The Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB), launched its second digital platform for its contractor’s licensing services this year.
PCAB, in collaboration with USAID DELIVER Project, first launched the Online Renewal Portal through the pcabgovph.com website in June 2020. Since its launch, more than 7,500 renewal licenses issued were processed through the portal.
To further digitize its licensing services, on 29 October 2020, through the virtual platform of Philippine Contractor’s Association, Inc. (PCA), PCAB launched its online Joint Venture (JV) application, spearheaded by PCAB Chairman Dr. Pericles Dakay and PCAB Executive Director Atty. Herbert Matienzo.
The online application also included a relaxed documentary requirement from 10 to 3. Similar to the Online Renewal Application, digital payment solutions, digital processing and evaluation, as well as digital license are also inclusive of the end to end digital application experience. Online verification of licenses, compliant with the Data Privacy Act. is also now available to the public.
The JV Online Application is hosted in the PCAB’s existing application website which will transfer to onlinepcab.construction.gov.ph soon to comply with the government guidelines for websites. Along with the transfer, PCAB also announced that more digitization is already in the pipeline. Digital applications for license upgrading and new licenses are expected to be launched in the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines’ (CIAP) 40th anniversary on November.
During the JV launch, Dr. Dakay also announced that PCAB approved a board resolution lessening the required hours of Construction of Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) seminar for aspiring Authorized Managing Officers (AMO) from 40 hours to 16 hours. According to Atty. Matienzo, PCAB is expecting to digitize all of its services before the end of 2020 to focus on further streamlining its documentary requirements in 2021.
The digitization efforts of PCAB is in line with the Digitization and Modernization Action Plan of the Philippine Construction Industry Roadmap 2020-2030 and in response to the imposition of health protocols to control the spread of the COVID-19.
CIAP is an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
